Ripple Labs, the currency startup, is reportedly lobbying Washington, D.C., lawmakers and regulators on legislation, sources tell Bank Innovation.

Ripple would neither confirm nor deny that it had started a lobbying effort.

Ripple Labs is focused facilitating virtual currency, both as a platform and as a legal tender. Ripple created the XRP virtual currency, which is one of the highest-rated virtual currencies in terms of outstanding market value, but the truly unique aspect of the company lies in its platform. Using Ripple’s platform, users can make international transactions securely and instantly.

Reportedly, Ripple is facing push back from regulators on its exchange platform, sources say. Specifically, Ripple Labs appears to be having a difficult time convincing regulators that its foreign exchange platform is strong and secure enough to facilitate cross-border payments, which is why Ripple is taking its case to legislators.

But the lobbying effort might not be paying dividends. Apparently, once lawmakers find out that Ripple Labs is focused on peer-to-peer payments, they became apprehensive of the concept, according to Bank Innovation sources.

Ripple works by using a unified ledger, one that monitors accounts, transactions, and balances, and the system is in charge of confirming the settlement of each transaction. Since everything is public and automated, Ripple’s system has the capability to process payments in under a minute, even international transactions, according to a TechCrunch article. While Ripple is mainly known as an international exchange, it can also be used for domestic transactions, as well.

There is much at stake here. In a recent interview with Bank Innovation, Bain Capital Venture Analyst Matt Harris said that he thinks cross-border, peer-to-peer payments is an area where bitcoin and other virtual currencies can have the most immediate impact. He praised Ripple Labs for its platform, saying it had plenty of “potential.”

That is, if regulators don’t muck it up.

Update: Ripple responded to our request, saying that they don’t employ any lobbyists, but have a risk and compliance department. The company added:

We’ve had productive conversations with regulators in the U.S. and abroad about Ripple as a real-time payments protocol. We greatly value the ongoing dialogue with governments. Regulators are commonly interested in how businesses on Ripple manage customer identity verification to comply with KYC and AML laws.